Rose of War
by Ouroboros666
Summary: Wherever she walks, violence follows. No matter how hard she tries, the bodies pile high. Ruby Rose walks the planet, resigning herself to a life of never-ending blood. However, as her abandoned family keeps popping up before her, she must reconsider whether or not someone as broken as her has any use in this supposedly civilized world.
1. Chapter Zero: The Bloody Rose

**Chapter Zero: The Bloody Rose**

 _(Four Years Ago)_

The forest was quiet this night, devoid of the usual incessant buzzing of bugs and seemingly endless ringing of cicadas. The animals, even birds, seemed to have been spooked by something. Like the sensing of a tsunami before impact, the animals had sensed something so terrible that it had triggered their flight or flight response—or in this case flight.

This phenomenon did not go unnoticed, as on this night it was not completely devoid of life. A single woman was walking through the eerie silence with purpose, like she had a destination already in mind.

The youthful woman was striking in her appearance: long, jet-black hair that was feathered, looking like a bird's wings in flight. Red gauntlets encased her arms, with her left resting on a large, mechanical sheath hanging from her waist. She wore a short, red kimono the same color as her eyes, leaving only black leggings to cover her long legs.

The woman, Raven, had taken note of the lack of wildlife. It was definitely suspicious, as it as the sudden absence of animals that generally marked an incoming disaster. Even the Creatures of Grimm, the monsters that hounded mankind to near extinction multiple time over the course of history, also seemed to be absent. She kept her senses razor-sharp, on the lookout for anything that could suddenly attack.

After pushing through a particular maze of branches, the beads around her neck ruffled at a sudden bout of hot air. She had arrived at her target, it would seem.

The woman's red eyes focused on a mansion standing in the mists of a grouping of trees, the only man-made structure for dozens of hundreds of miles. Four stories in height, the out-of-place building seemed to be made from brick and cobblestone, affixed with many boarded up windows and a chimney up top. Though, despite its size, the house was still dwarfed by the huge trees that made up this specific forest.

The warrior took a quick look around, double checking on any predatory elements that may be lurking. Seeing no visual tells, she carefully made her way to the stairs leading towards the door. Raven took a deep breath and raised her right leg. The foot was put into position, and then it kicked through the thick, solid-oak door. The force was so great that the entire slab knocked off its hinges and splintered into pieces as it crashed into the floor.

As soon as the opening was made a strong metallic tang assaulted her senses, watering her eyes in the process; the woman's mouth became overpowered with the taste of blood. Raven's arm immediately went to cover her mouth and nose in a vain attempt to muffle the noxious scent from overpowering her sanity.

The sight before Raven on the other side of the door was straight out of a nightmare, and her stomach churned at the sight. Several strained coughs escaped Raven's now dry mouth. Such visceral reactions from the woman were very rare, as she has had many years to learn the art of self-discipline and had seen much violence in her time, but such savagery was a shock to even her experienced eyes.

The white interior walls were drenched in arterial spray so powerful parts of the ceiling had been painted red. The smooth, wooden floor that had once been cleaned and polished to a mirror-like sheen was now swollen and soggy with blood. But blood was far from the only thing on the floor.

Countless body parts had been violently ripped off and flung around with no rhyme or reason. The cut-off points were mangled beyond recognition; only one weapon was capable of this level of viciousness, and there was only one person who wielded it...

There was a door off to her left, along with a nearby staircase. To Raven's right was the wide living room filled with red-stained furniture and blood soaked carpet. Right in front of her was a space not unlike a hallway, which was the way she had to go.

Shocking or not, Raven was still a master of her own mind and body. She forced her arm back down to her side and started moving through the gore. She walked through the bloody aisle, the red wood warping under her weight, forming footprints of frothy blood in the floor.

How many people were slain for this amount of blood? She thought to herself as she stepped over a shredded leg. How many gallons upon gallons had been spilled to cover the walls and roof? For it to soak into the wooden floor in such vast amounts? It was a horrifying thought.

Raven soon found herself in front of an open door on the opposite side of the staircase: the entrance to the basement. Already halfway open, hot air seeped out of the opening, carrying with it a metallic stench many times more potent than the rest of the house; promising a site much more horrific hidden beneath her feet.

With a deep breath to compose her nerves, she opened the door the rest of the way.

A hot draft of air passed over her, ruffling her hair and loose kimono. It was pitch-black beyond the opening, so much so that not even the bottom portion of the stairs could be seen by her, but there was sound. The noise was that of dropping liquid falling into a body of stilll water. Given the state of the floor Raven quickly deduced that it was the excess from the blood-soaked wood, dripping overflow into the basement.

Her body was telling her run; honed instincts screaming at Raven to leave whatever was hiding in the dark depths. Her nerves of steel, however, overpowered her body's instincts and she stepped into the basement without a second thought, her stoic expression never once cracking.

Darkness crept around her body as she walked down the steps, swallowing her form like it did all else. It was surprisingly hot; not humid, but hot, as if there was a burning furnace nearby. The stench of blood was much more potent, poisoning Raven's mouth with the taste of raw iron. She likened to eating raw and bloody meat. Yet, despite all of this, she pressed on.

The stairs were relatively small, so she had quickly reached the bottom of the wooden steps in a matter of seconds. As she finished her final stride to the concrete floor her shoes stepped on something; soggy but hard, yet also somewhat soft. Reaching inside of her breast pocket, she pulled out a small, palm-sized flashlight. She turned it on, aiming the sole source of light down at her feet.

The thing she had stepped on was a human torso, and just a torso, lying in a crimson puddle. Missing both arms and legs, along with the head, it was lacking all signs of identification, with one exception. On the back of the blood-drenched shirt was the red wolf insignia of an infamous terrorist origination, known as the White Fang.

Raven adjusted her flashlight. Blood puddles covered the majority of the surprisingly warm floor. Not a single foot of space was free from blood or more mutilated body parts, scattered about like they were toys of some demented beast.

She moved her flashlight from overhead, which confirmed her suspicions of the bleeding floor/ceiling being the cause of the dripping noise. She moved her light down the brick wall, noting several banners with the White Fang insignia imprinted on them, before landing on—

Raven's breath stalled. Leaning up against a washer-dryer pair, a carnage-coated axe reflected the beam from her flashlight. From end to end, the monstrosity was almost as tall as her, and Its serrated blade coated in congealed blood, pieces of rancid meat from unfortunate victims still stuck in the saw chain. Its brass handle was partly wrapped in black cloth, improving the grip of whoever was strong enough, and insane enough, to wield it.

This was the weapon responsible for the frenzied massacre in this house. And since that weapon was here, that meant...

"Why are you here?" A shaky voice pierced through the darkness. A cold shiver raced down Raven's spine and she whipped her body around to face the voice's direction. On the complete opposite side of the room, tucked into the corner diagonal from her, a lone figure sat on a chair. With her flashlight, Raven saw the person unobstructed.

The person perched on the recliner, a girl who looked to be in her teens, caked in so much blood that it was impossible to see what she was wearing. The only visible features was the pale skin of the right side of her face, and her blood-matted black hair. However, it was not her bloody appearance that made Raven's skin crawl; it was her demeanor.

The teenager's shaking hands clasped in her lap so tightly that they were white in coloration. Her uneven breath was quick, almost like she was trying to calm herself down. The rigidity of her muscles; that shaky voice, and those tired, baggy silver eyes all contributed to an air of restraint.

And that was precisely the thing that made Raven's hair stand on end: if she wasn't careful, what little control this girl had would snap and Raven herself would end up on the receiving end of her brutal weapon. She raised her hands, trying to show that she had no intention of provoking the girl.

With a steady voice, Raven spoke. "I'm just here to talk, Ruby."

* * *

 _Thump, thump, thump. My heartbeat drummed loudly in my chest, drowning out the bloody dripping noise falling from overhead. There were so many bodies, so many body parts, and the place reeked of blood; my handiwork. But it wasn't enough. It had been too long since the last time, and soon it would start again._

 _I began to itch the base of my neck; it had already started, it seemed, and soon it would be painful shocks instead of annoying itching. I hope I'm lucky enough to get at least a few days of reprieve before my food started tasting like ash; once that started the sleepless nights would rear their ugly heads._

 _I needed to find another criminal group before it gets that bad. If I take too long, I may snap and end up killing innocent people; I can't handle that. The only thing keeping me from ending my suffering is the thought that I'm saving many more lives indirectly than I take, punishing those that haven't been caught by the law. If I reach such a point, then…_

 _The sound of crashing wood interrupted my thoughts. Someone had kicked through the door. Good; hopefully it's some more White Fang. I need a release!_

 _The wood overhead was warping under the trail of a single person. Shame its only one. Hopefully, whoever this newcomer is, they can at least hold a weapon instead of screaming and running away like these cowards._

 _The basement door grated open, and the unknown person began walking down the steps. My adrenalin increased at the prospect of fighting again, and the irritation at the base of my skull lessened at the mere thought of rending this stranger with my axe. Or, if need be, my hands and teeth. It didn't matter how I did it. All that mattered was that I let loose!_

 _The stranger suddenly turned on a flashlight. The fact that they did so without any shaking movements, or that they could stomach the rest of the house, proved promising for a possible fighter. With a click, the appliance turned on._

 _As soon as I saw her, my blood boiled with furry! That woman—that face! My vision became tinted red and a surge of anger-fueled adrenaline filled my body. I could feel myself becoming redder and redder as my mind was engulfed in sheer rage, like all I wanted to do was to slam my fists into the woman's skull until something reduced to bloody mush—_

 _NO! I need to calm myself down. I can't let myself go nuts..._

 _Why did it was it her? Why did it have to be Raven Branwen of all people? I quickly clasped my hands together tightly in my lap, my arms shaking from the amount of strain they were under. My white knuckles were a testament to that._

 _"I'm just here to talk, Ruby," she said defensively. My last shred of consciousness snapped with the simple sentence. I leaped from my seat and charged, screaming at the top of my lungs. My sudden lunge must have her off guard, because I was able to tackle her to the red floor with ease, making a small splash._

 _I raised my right fist._

 _"DIE!"_

 _I punched her face. Then again with my left fist. And again. And again. My strikes were too fast and forceful for her to get a chance to speak. After five punches, Raven was out cold. After another five hits her jaw was broken. Ten more and her nose was completely flattened into a bloody mess. By the fiftieth punch, Raven's face had been ground into minute pieces of skull and mushy gray matter, but it still wasn't enough!_

 _I raised my hands to start once more, but I seized._

 _"Ruby?"_

* * *

Ruby's silver eyes suddenly opened. She was back in the gore-slick basement, sweat covering her face. Her entire body was trembling, shaking with excess energy.

"Ruby!" Raven shouted at her. Ruby looked up at the woman, still somewhat confused about what was happening. The sitting girl ignored the woman with the flashlight, simply looking around the dark and bloody basement, still trying to gain her bearings. She suddenly stood.

Raven flinched at the abrupt movement, but still kept herself calm and controlled. Raven watched the red-stained girl as she steadily walked around her, not bothering to avoid the various mangled body parts; stepping on them like mere objects. Ruby wasn't coming to her, she was heading towards—

Raven's hand reached for the hilt of her sword and readied herself to draw in an instant. Ruby had walked to her weapon: the gore-covered axe. Despite its sheer size and weight, the weapon lifted by Ruby with no discernible effort, despite her small body.

"Why are you here, Raven?" Ruby spoke her first sentence; her voice calm and stoic, devoid of any perceivable emotion. Her grip tightened around the cloth-wrapped handle of her brutal weapon. "Answer me now, or end up in pieces," she spoke coldly.

Raven gulped down a breath of air, never taking her hand off her weapon. "I'm here to give you an opportunity. I'm well aware of your...condition, and I think I have a solution that could help both of us."

Silence, dead silence was all Raven got in response from Ruby, who stood unmoving. "Well? Are you interested in hearing my proposition?"

Without any hint or warning, Ruby suddenly jerked. Her axe raised as she charged at Raven, eyes burning with unfettered anger as she bellowed like a mad beast. Raven cursed and pulled her crimson-red sword from her mechanical sheath. The two clashed, the force of their weapons sending out a shockwave that rippled the bloody floor upon impact.

Ruby roared her response, like a frothing berserker.

"DIE!"

* * *

 **(End of Chapter Zero)**

 **Author's Notes:** Due to this being an introductory/setup chapter, its is quite a bit smaller than the regular word count I have in mind for all of my stories, which is between 5k-7k. Also, don't expect a regimented update schedule; I have a hard enough time keeping the number of stories I'm working on at the same time under twenty (currently fifteen, if you're curious). So just keep that in mind.


	2. Chapter One: A Busy Day

**Chapter One: A Busy Day**

The Creatures of Grimm, mankind's greatest enemy, have been with them since the beginning, driven by the desire—not need—to kill humans. The most common of the Grimm faced by man appear as monstrous, almost demonic renditions of commonplace animals, not limited to wolves and birds. The only shared traits between these subspecies of Grimm are the solid black bodies, burning red eyes, and white, organic armor that sprouted from within.

It was within a grassy plain that these abominations had gathered in a massive horde, with Grimm numbering in the hundreds, creating a shifting black spot where there should be uncharted forest. The air was now savaged by the unearthly howls of the dark beasts, capable of being heard miles away.

Despite the extreme, almost unheard of concentration, a lone human, a young woman, was currently slaughtering her way through the gathering, a twisted smile etched across her face, frozen in glee.

Under a layer of black gore few things were visible. Parts of a red-colored pattern could be seen stitched into the fabric of black jeans, showing only flecks through the Grimm fluids. She seemed to have on gauntlets covering her arms, but they were covered in crusted, black butchery, making it nigh-impossible to make out any details, and her torso was crusted over entirely with the running remains of Grimm.

With every motion, her weapon cleaved and ripped through Grimm with ease, gushing the odd black liquid all over the axe and it's wielder. The mad woman wielded a shockingly giant, rough-looking battle-axe shaped like an over-sized tomahawk, with serrated teeth rimming the blade in a way not unlike a chainsaw. It was just a few inches shorter than she was, even while wearing the thick combat boots protecting her feet.

Ruby Rose couldn't remember when a such a bountiful harvest had descended upon her, nor could she bring herself to care. _Cruor*_ had been hungry for battle, and while these things on their own were weak, when amassed in these numbers things were different. The strength of Grimm rested not in the individuals, but the collective.

With every arching swing of Ruby's weapon, limbs removed, torso were savagely gouged open, and heads were lopped off bodies. There was no stopping its path of slaughter. After another of her countless swings, the great weapon had shredded the armor-plated neck of an Alpha Beowolf, rolling its head before her boots, face frozen in snarl.

Seeing it, she smirked viciously and propelled it away with a powerful kick, threatening to impact another of its kind. When the second beast slashed the head away with its claws, _Cruor_ was brought down upon the crown of the creature's skull, its hungry teeth carved a trench through its form; head to waist. As the two halves fell apart, Ruby continued on her bloody path unabated.

All around her Grimm were butchered, falling to the ground in mangled chunks and pieces, spinning her body to a blur. Like a vortex affixed with blades, Ruby shredded countless Grimm with her axe, using its great weight for extra momentum.

At one point during the massacre Ruby had just embedded her axe into a Griffon, a fiendish mix between a lion and bird, when a fist suddenly bashed into her face. The iron-grip she had on her weapon broke due to surprise, and her body was sent flying beyond the horde, skipping across the ground like a pebble on a lake before tumbling to a stop.

Her gauntlet-clad hands dug their digits into the moist dirt underneath the blackened grass, leaving long trenches in their wake, keeping her upright on the ground. She landed on her knees. Her silver eyes immediately found the thing that had punched her, just as it started drumming on its chest.

The monster was in the shape of a gorilla twice the size of a normal man, and like the rest of its kind, was covered in black skin and fur that was dotted with white plates: it was a Beringel, and it was eager to snap Ruby in half with its giant, human-like hands. It ran towards the woman, stampeding through the smaller Beowolfs and trampling over the ones that didn't get out-of-the-way.

Ruby, however, smiled wickedly. Ripping her hands out of the bloody ground, she charged at the Beringel herself. She too barreled her way through the swarm, not even bothering to dodge or swerve out-of-the-way. As Ruby moved she shoulder-rammed many lesser Grimm, sending many to the ground in broken humps. During this an Ursa raised its claw up in an attempt to crush her into the ground. An armored fist effortlessly smashed the thing's head in a shower of black interspersed with white plating, killing it with ease.

When Ruby and the Beringel clashed, their fists collided in a flurry of blows; wild and undisciplined, their strikes were as random as they were powerful. Despite the massive amount of strength the beast had, the almost as tall Ruby matched the gorilla blow for blow, meeting each fist strike mid-air with her own gauntlet-clad ones.

Dozens of strikes fired, and dozens more were cancelled out by another volley, meeting together in a barrage of blurry black and red fits. Each clash held so much power that contours of miniature shockwaves could be seen radiating in the air following every single impact. Even the dirt beneath their rooted feet started getting agitated, rising up in a small mist of earth

The rest of the Grimm hoard circled the two exchanging blows instead of attacking en mass like usual, leaving a small amount ring between them. It seemed that the monsters actually held a sense of fear for their life, or at the very least an instinct of self-preservation that compelled them not to intervene at the moment.

It took a full minute, but Ruby eventually overpowered the Beringel's arms just enough to move them aside, spreading the powerful limbs and exposing the beast's head and plated chest, if only for a split second. Both of her metal-encased hands broke through the growling monster's mouth, chipping off several sharp teeth in the process.

One hand-held the upper mouth and the other grabbed the lower mandible; Ruby proceeded to pull her arms as hard as she could, prying open the Grimm's mouth. The Beringel growled and bellowed in both pain and what could've interpreted as anger, but it was ended before retaliation was possible.

The lower jaw snapped all the way open, or as far as it could without fully tearing it off, when Ruby started to twist the neck like a cork screw; the head twisted into a straight horizontal position, killing the beast quickly.

The surrounding Grimm suddenly charged at her all at once, readying their maws, fangs, and claws to rip her apart in any and every way they could. Instead of dropping the Grimm-corpse, Ruby decided to put it to better use. Keeping her hands attached to the head, Ruby spun her body, swinging the massive and heavy body of the Beringel like some sort of hammer, slamming into the charging monsters and knocking them back.

When a particular wolf Grimm got too close she brought down the entirety of the Beringel upon it with great force, completely squashing it under the bigger Grimm's bulk. When black smoke started seeping from both bodies, Ruby knew it was time to get her weapon back.

Kicking herself off, using the two seeping corpse as a stand for leverage, Ruby dodged a stinger as she ran, grabbing the sharp end of the organ and ripping it off of the tail. She threw it at an incoming Ursa Major, piercing through its bare chest with ease and skewering whatever happened to be behind it with a golden scorpion tail.

Ruby made it back to her weapon. Instead of being stuck in the a dead Griffon, the axe was now lying flat on the ground, with no Grimm body in sight. Ruby reached out a hand. An Alpha Beowolf suddenly jumped in her path, right on the brass half of _Cruor_. It then started charging towards her with its claws ready to swipe.

A swing of Ruby's armored forearm crushed half of its own protected head, throwing it to the floor. She grabbed the heavy axe by the wrapped portion just in time to bisect a theropod-like Grimm that had run behind her the entire time, known as a Creep. Continuing her momentum, the axe blade was then directed towards the Alpha with the smashed face, chopping its neck off in a slurry of black blood.

Partner back in hand, the slaughter began yet again.

Dozens more monsters fell to bloody dirt, each piece of the serrated metal attached to her axe carving out chunks and pieces of Grimm-flesh with little effort. The axe tore its way through the monsters as savagely as possible, completely splattering Ruby in even more of their unnatural blood, her sinister smirk growing by the second.

In time, Ruby found herself standing upon the dead, smoking body of another Alpha, brandishing her weapon above her head. "WHO'S NEXT!" She bellowed with a mad furry as the scattered remnants of the Grimm horde still surrounding her. As if understanding her, they snarled and bared their fangs before rushing her for one last time. Numerous flying body parts and random arterial gushes of black blood prevailed for the following minutes.

Eventually, the last of the Grimm had been killed: a scorpion that had both of its pincers chopped off. The woman was all that remained, standing in a virtual lake of black ooze, with no bodies anywhere to be seen save the Death Stalker,though even that wasn't lasting long, as its body was now steadily disintegrating into streams of black smoke.

The shifting mass of monsters had finally been dispatched entirely. The air which had been overrun with the snarls and growling of murderous beasts not one minute ago was now replaced with a deathly, hallow silence.

The majority of the woman's body was drenched in black ooze. Her youthful face and short hair splattered in crusted black, forcing her left eye shut. She didn't seem to mind her bloody clothes all that much; actually, it was quite the opposite: she relished the feeling. Her body was aflame with the waning adrenaline of a great battle, and the remnants that stained her clothes and bodies were only proof of her superiority.

 _Cruor's_ blade now dripped with running Grimm blood, clinging to the weapon like wet paint. Its bladed edge still had bits of disintegrating Grimm stuck in between some of the spaces and cracks that housed them.

But then, Ruby's face abruptly fell. Like a switched had been flipped, the sense of enjoyment and exhilaration that had been her face was drained almost instantly. All that was left was a stoic, almost sorrowful expression, like the realization of something terrible.

Lifting _Cruor_ , Ruby looked at the pommel of her weapon. On it was a built-in tally counter: 387, displayed in red numbering.

"Hmm, not too bad for a day's work," Ruby remarked to herself. While not her personal best, her kill count was still higher than the usual by a sizable amount. She took a breath before attaching her weapon to the strap across her back, hidden under the inhuman gore.

The woman took one last look around her. What had once been a grassy plain was now a murder field, with the signs of battle now scarring its once pristine surface. Grass was weighed down by the pool of Grimm blood, flatting them into the dirt, now a viscous mud for the same reason. Trees had been uprooted for broken in places, and the very air was rank with the familiar tang of iron. No doubt it would last for weeks, if not longer.

Ruby rested her aching and trembling hands—still armored— in the pockets of her pants before walking away, intending to enjoy every moment of her much-needed break and the quiet it brought her. Luckily she knew of a perfect place to unwind not too far from where she was.

It was a mere thirty minute walk to her resting hole, a running stream that cut through a patch of forest, filling quiet air with the relaxing white noise of tickling water. About the width of two adults, the stream was calm, even when flowing over the couple of slopes. It was also cool to the touch; when taken together, it made for the perfect place to rest after an intense session of physical labor.

On the lush, green embankment was a set of soggy clothes. A simple sleeveless, black T-shirt was resting against the green blades of grass, and right beside it was a pair of similarly soaked black jeans. Both were wrinkled, as if having been rung out not long ago. A small, brown backpack had been set aside right next to the clothes as well, along with a pair of thick, red-soled combat boots and a set of gauntlets colored the same.

Resting upon the closest tree was _Cruor_ , now polished to a mirror-like sheen. Lying on the topside of the axe, the handle was supported by the live bark behind it, keeping the weapon straight. Now devoid of the taint of Grimm, a tribal rose could be seen etched into the blade's surface. An oddly beautiful design for such a savage weapon.

The sound of splashing water disturbed the quiet. Ruby stood knee-deep in the stream, cleaning off the last remnants of Grimm off her body, which was now floating down with the rest of the water. Instead of sweat, droplets of water now glistened on her skin.

Ruby was clad only in a dark-red sports bra and similarly colored boxer shorts which clung to her thick and sculpted thighs. Despite her doll-like face, Ruby's body was toned and heavily fit, coming in a just under two-hundred pounds of solid, taut muscle; combined with a height of over six feet, she was an outright monster by many standards, especially when in the midst of a frenzy.

Six abdominal muscles vividly defined her stomach, and her arms and legs were toned to an extreme degree, especially her right arm, a consequence of swinging her axe. The young woman looked as if there wasn't a single ounce of fat anywhere on her body.

She was muscled, undeniably so, but not overly engorged to the point of encumbering like many bodybuilders tended to be; more like a veteran warrior who had fought all her life rather than someone who simply packed on extra bulk by lifting weights. It was a natural consequence of the lifestyle she had lived for the past five years.

With so little covering her, scars of past battles could be seen, some faded to the point of blending in with her tanned skin while others were a more raw and purplish color; fresh. Bite and slash marks, burns, bullets wounds, punctures and some unidentifiable littered the surface of her sculpted body. Each of them had a story; memories she would often relive in her nightmares. And none were from today's battle

Ruby walked along the stream until she stood before one of the slopes of running water. She kneeled down into the water and sucked in a mouth full of air, and ducked her head under the cool stream. The fluid that mattered her hair leached away under the gentle force of flowing water.

Half a minute later she pulled her head free from the river, inhaling the fresh air. Her red-streaked hair clung to her face, but aside from shaking it off, Ruby made no attempt to straighten it, leaving her tresses in soggy curls and clumps.

Ruby lowered a melancholic gaze down at her reflection in the running water, becoming lost in thought. Back just a few years ago, she could remember desperately wanting kill it once and for all, and berating herself for being "too weak" to end it all herself. At this point, however, Ruby truly wondered if she had ever valued life in the slightest, and doubted she ever will or could again.

"Heh, why hello Blake, you look different today," Ruby jested to her own reflection. She couldn't remember when she had started talking to herself specifically, but it was at least a year after she had run away. Her reflection simply made a convenient visual this time around.

In the beginning she remembered hating herself, cursing her parents for bringing something as broken as her into the world; hating them and the rest of her family for not killing her when she had first snapped at the tender age of eight. But now, Ruby had difficulty believing that any life was more valuable than the dirt she walked on, her own included.

She suddenly huffed. "Man, even Blake would tell me to lighten up... I need something to eat." Ruby slogged through the water and climbed up to the bank. It was time to catch some dinner.

* * *

Ruby walked for hours more in an attempt to find herself some fresh dinner, but no animals could be seen. Birds had abandoned the now overcast sky, insects no longer grated her ears with the sound of their annoying buzzing or attaching themselves to her person, and the only land animal she saw was a wolf that had quickly ran past her.

It had run away from something, she'd surmised.

The thought definitely piqued her interest. So she did what came naturally to her, and followed the wolf's hurried paw prints for another long period of time. In that span of time the clouds overhead got even darker, now swollen black and gray, heavy with moisture. The forest looked as if it were in a depression; the perfect atmosphere to battle some more.

There was never enough bloodshed. Not truly. The more Ruby fought—the more she let the proverbial 'beast' out of its cage—the longer stretches of time she had between the pain and lucidity. There was no harm in trying to find this thing, no matter the subsequent outcome.

She walked for a long, uncountable amount of time before reaching where the paw prints came from: It was a town. Dead, a corpse of its former glory, the buildings were destroyed and dilapidated, some almost to the point of being unfinished looking. The elements had laid claim to the village, with no trace of a human presence in years.

According to a wooden sign she had passed not too long ago, this, at one point, was known as Kuroyuri. If she recalled correctly, Ruby had heard a few stories over the years about this one town in particular. Destroyed overnight with only two known survivors, monstrous screams had been heard for miles around, made by something never found.

With that story in the back of her mind, Ruby walked through the village. What buildings remained standing were in pitiful condition, so much so that a simple gust of wind would have been enough to threaten their stability. There was no way any living creature could hide in one of these hollowed shells. The cobblestone walkway, cracked and overran with fungus and foliage, were so weak that her boots caused potions to crumble just from walking normally.

It was a sad thing to see, Ruby believed. So much work and effort had gone into this project called Kuroyuri, and in return all the inhabitants got were a few good years before having their own lives as well as that of their friends and family ripped to pieces, most likely in front of them too, as extra salt in the wound.

Ruby halted her steps at that last thought, right in front of a dried up aqueduct filled with fallen and rotted leaves. "I have no room to feel sad," she spoke to herself, "after all the atrocities I've committed. No, something like me doesn't deserve a shred of humanity."

The wind blew, howling a haunted moan through the rattling trees that surrounded this carcass once called Kuroyuri. Ruby held her agitated dark bangs with an armored hand, enjoying the brisk breeze stroking her face.

Yes, a monster like her—worse than any Grimm—didn't have the right to feel anything...

A blood-curdling scream abruptly made its way through the town. The sudden noise was distorted, but still high-pitched; akin to the death wails of dozens of people screaming in unison, burdening the mind with the possibility of being one of those in anguish. Birds miles away, nestlings she had thought were gone, flapped their wings in a hurry, fleeing in obvious fear.

While the feeling of her skin vibrating was a new sensation to Ruby, she already had a good idea of what was causing it. She looked over her shoulder.

"It's about time!" She told the beast.

About a dozen meters from Ruby was a Grimm, but something much more than the horde she had dispatched earlier. It was a monster, far from just a simple animal. This Grimm was two. The bottom part looked like a hellish version of a horse, white plating covered its long face; its maw open, revealing its sharpened canines, eager to rip chunks from her slight body.

Erupting from the beast's back was an emaciated, imp-like Grimm, it's skull-like head, plastered with a psychotic grin. Two curved horns sprouted from its forehead, giving it a demonic appearance. The top-half's arms were overly long and were more like pincers than actual hands. Dozens of weapons, from swords to spears, stuck out of the imp's hunched back, having been run through the Grimm so deep that they were unable to fall.

Every second the humanoid twitched and sized, its breath a series of short and pain-filled wheezes. Its movements were more sudden jerks rather than real motion, spasming for little reason, though it never once lifted its murderous gaze from Ruby. It sat there, observing her like prey. The steed, meanwhile, huffed black smoke and prepared to charge.

Despite its appearance, she didn't seem to be scared, or even concerned. Ruby simply whistled, impressed at the sight of this new foe. Reaching over her shoulder, the monstrous woman grabbed the clothed portion of her axe and freed it from the strap, positioning it for battle.

"I'm waiting, big guy," she taunted the beast.

The top Grimm opened its burning mouth bellowed out another distorted screech which vibrated the air around them, ruffling Ruby's red and black hair. The bottom Grimm stomped one of its clawed forelegs, growling out more black smoke. The vibrations rattled the wooden weapons against each other, forcing the imp Grimm to shake in pain.

It charged. The demon-imp's limp arms dragged on the floor as the steed charged at Ruby with the intent of ramming her into mush. Despite being three or four times her size, the main body was able to sprint surprisingly fast. In a matter of seconds, the Grimm lifted itself on its hind hooves, raising its claws, trying to crush the woman.

Ruby, however, simply held up her axe with both arms and braced herself. The horse's claws slammed down on _Cruor's_ handle. The solid brass that made up the handle took the rampaging beast without a scratch, leaving Ruby to support the weight bearing down on her.

Ruby stood firm, matching the Grimm's physical power with her own. The muscles of her arms bulged and flexed under the immense strain, sweat seeping from her pores. Her doll-like face twisted into a bestial snarl as she eyed the two Grimm.

Sudden rage pumped fresh and invigorating adrenaline into her hardened body, giving her newfound strength. With a yell Ruby's swollen arms pushed the Grimm back, overpowering it with surprising ease. Her face began turning a reddish color as her sanity started slipping into that ever lingering mad rage.

Back on all fours, the flaccid arms of the Grimm flew into action. The right appendage darted forward, stretching like a piece of rubber. The two digits grabbed Ruby's waist, yanking her from where she stood. She made no move to stop it.

The humanoid then began spinning in full rotations.

Ruby bashed and skidded across the stone ground repeatedly like a toy attached to a rope. The arm suddenly jerked her high in the air before slamming back to the floor with great force, carving out a small crater upon her landing. This repeated three more times, with each slam digging her deeper and deeper into the ground.

The Grimm began spinning again, pummeling Ruby several more times across the stone before finally letting go. Ruby careened through the air, barreling straight in and out of dilapidated buildings, breaking and splintering thick brick and wood with ease before exiting in the opposite direction. She crashed into the ground for the fifth time that night, but despite all of this, _Cruor_ never once slipped from her gauntlet-clad grip.

The beast followed in her direction, each lumbering foot step shaking nearby rocks and pushed through entire houses with ease simply due to its size, stomping on what were at one point people's homes and amenities. When the Grimm stopped mere feet away from the downed woman. She laid sprawled out amidst the wreckage of the crumbled house, seemingly out cold. The steed lifted one of its giant feet, readying to stomp her life out permanently.

Ruby suddenly moved.

In a blur of incredible speed, _Cruor_ was buried over halfway through the hovered leg, causing the creatures to roar in pain. Two hands held the axe deep within the monster's flesh, her dominant right hand on the black cloth, and her left on the uncovered portion beneath. Ruby smirked. Hitting a button on the axe's bare brass handle, the serrated teeth started moving, creating a loud, ear-grating sound: brum-brum-brum-brrrrr!

Each piece of the serrated metal took their turn to carve out small chunks and pieces of Grimm-flesh. The teeth completely shredded the rest of their way through the Grimm's front legs as savagely as possible, completely splattering Ruby in its 'blood,' a rabid smirk replacing her earlier snarl.

The cut off section of the leg, bigger than Ruby herself, dropped to the floor as frothy Grimm-fluid poured out like a hose. Faster than the screaming thing could react, Ruby appeared right beside the other leg, and her axe quickly milled its way through that tree-thick leg as well.

As soon as the other severed limb fell to the floor, the horse beast tipped forward, and the buzzing saw-axe found its way into the bottom Grimm's neck. In a few meager seconds the head had been lopped off, killing the equine before it ever touched the ground.

The human Grimm only had the time to let out another distorted growl before it too was killed by Ruby's axe, beheading the thing with a sick ease. The fresh corpse quickly plumed into the air, decomposing into a thick, black cloud. An easy victory.

This should have been it, a day's work done, but Ruby tightened her grip on _Cruor_ to the point that her arms started shaking. It's not enough! Ruby screamed in her head. The fighting had stirred something within, awakening the beast that she tried to control. Anger continued to seep from her mind; her breathing quickened as her eyes slowly became bloodshot.

Then, she heard beeping. She couldn't say how long it had been, maybe she'd waited a few seconds, or maybe it had been hours; rage had a tendency to blend time like darkness blended shadows She didn't trust herself to turn in the direction, Ruby wasn't even capable of telling her body to let go of her axe. But, judging from the quick increase in volume, along with suddenly billows of winds, it seemed obvious that it was an airship of some kind landing behind her.

No, please leave! She begged inside of her head. Ruby closed her eyes as tears ran down her cheeks, knowing full well she was too weak to stop what was about to happen.

"Excuse me, miss, are you alright?" A man was walking towards her, having jumped off the airship.

 _Thump!_ Her heart rate increased in anticipation. Her face somehow grew even hotter as sweat ran.

"Miss, are you alright? We saw the smoke and thought someone needed help," a different voice spoke this time. This one was deeper, and obviously much more mature than the one speaking before.

 _Thump!_ Her grip somehow tightened even more, with a force so great that it seemed to want to fuse with the brass. Bubbling drool started leaking from her snarling, quivering lips.

"Miss, there is no need to be afraid. We patrol Mistral's borders; we're soldiers, and we can help if you're injured. Is there anyone else with you?" The mature one spoke again. The soldiers were still a good distance away from Ruby, but they could tell something was off. Her entire body was trembling, and it seemed like she was holding on to something, but they couldn't make it out from their angle of approach.

Both of them were dressed in the standard military attire of Minstral: a dark-colored, full body set of clothes with a harness attached. Their heads were also covered with a black cloth, goggles covering their eyes, and a re-breather attached to their mouths.

Both held advanced, rifle-length firearms in their arms, scanning the surrounding area for Grimm. Kuroyuri was an abandoned, desolate place with many of its building still standing, albeit in disrepair. There were a multitude of places for a sudden lunge or sneak attack, and the soldiers weren't taking any chances.

At their pace it took another minute for them to get close to the shaking woman, but when they did, the shorter of the pair handed his gun off to his partner and laid a comforting hand on Ruby's quivering shoulder. "Hey now, there's no reason to be scared. We can can protect you. Just come with us and our pilot will take us away from here. Alright? Can you still move?"

 _Thump!_

* * *

 _That contact broke what little sanity I had clung to so desperately. I swung my weapon with a single hand, bashing the back of my axe into the face of one of the two soldiers. He plummeted to the stone ground, guns skipping away from his grasp._

 _With my free left hand, I grabbed the wrist of the one holding on to me just before it started to rip away. It twisted with me as I spun to face the man, breaking bones in the process. His screams are too weak to over power the thundering of my pulse. My knee ram into his stomach, stopping his pain-filled cries with a upchuck of blood-speckled saliva._

 _A soundless scream came from him, before I stopped it with my fist slamming into his cheek. A shower of blood and broken teeth spewed forth from his mouth before he too fell, writhing in pain just like his friend._

 _Something screamed at the top of its lungs. The sound was muffled, just beyond my perception and ability to comprehend, drowned out by the sound of my own booming blood. It could be a name, maybe something else; it matters not. I looked towards the muffled noise and smirked. A new victim has appeared._

 _It was woman, in the same garb as the two men. She was leaning over the edge of the open cockpit, fear across her face. I pulled back my axe and threw it with all my strength. Before she could even raise the gun clutched in her hands, my axe bit into her breast bone, gouging it open in a gush of red fluid. The weight of Cruor dragged her limp body out of the cockpit, slamming to the ground back-first, her gun forgotten._

 _I charged forward._

 _Within moments I had reached my weapon and wrenched it out of the soldier's chest, tearing muscles and sinew in a gory shower. My victim bled in agony, choking on her own blood. I smirked. It was pitiful, such a weakling has no reason to be before my eyes. My foot slammed down onto her skull, crushing it into a red splatter, ending her pathetic existence mercifully. I raised my axe, activating the sawchain for the second time today._

 _Adrenaline coursed through my body as I walked back to the first of the soldiers; the one that had touched me. I could have just ran back, true, but I let it build; allowing the rage and excess energy increase second by second, beat by beat. My heart pounded like a drum in anticipation. To spill blood, to paint everything red; it was the only thing that gave me relief._

 _I met up with the one that had placed his hand upon my shoulder; he was a fool for letting instinct take control. To let that innate protectiveness cloud his judgement, blinding him to logic. He insulted me; my skills. I am no weakling!_

 _I placed my boot on his forehead to steady the squirming coward, Cruor's motor hummed violently and the teeth started running in a blur. I raised it over my head with both hands, and began swinging madly._

 _Every swing opened gashes of atrial floods that bathed me in blood. Body parts scattered across the area, mangled beyond repair and recognition. I kept swinging long after the screams of mercy ceased; it didn't even register. My anger drowned out the world; everything laid just beyond my senses. All that was, was red._

 _I swung, and swung, and SWUNG!_

 _This was the only way for me to feel alive! To hack apart all that was in within my reach. To butcher fills me with exhilaration that can never be matched. This is the only way to stop the pain in my head, to allow me the simple pleasure of sleep._

 _This, is my peace!_

* * *

 **(End of Chapter One)**

* Latin for "Blood" and/or "Gore."

 **Author's Note:** Wow, just under seven months… damn. Did not see that coming. Sorry about that, but between my natural, erratic-as-all-hell schedule and the surprising success of _Red Maiden,_ I was just distracted from this story. Oh-well. I'm about as consistent as Tzeentch himself in quite a few aspects of my personality so this is to be expected in the future—though hopefully not as long. As said before, if you wish to know where I am at with a story check my profile, percentages as well as the dates they were updated will be there.

Anyway, if you have any questions or want some clarification (no spoilers), feel free to ask and I will reply.


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